Can confirm that last year (2024) OOS admit rate was 8.4% and in-state admit rate was 34.9%. Highly competitive indeed.
Last year a friendās OOS DS was admitted off the waitlist the week RDs came out. He had already mentally committed elsewhere even though UNC was originally his first choice. Heās now at another school loving it and has not looked backā¦
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GPA and rigor of courses taken / school record is far more important than std. test scores - there is simply no ACT, SAT or AP result that will outweigh GPA and rigor. The CDS makes this clear, listing for academics as the only āvery importantā factors those two - rigor and GPA (and essay). All else is important or, in the case of standardized tests, āconsidered.ā Since you didnāt share those, it is hard to offer meaningful input. Top 10% of a class of 500? 450? 80?
Iād agree with this. Each comment regarding admit assessment when students view it have quantified values of ECs and essays that are significantly lower than most expected( ie 4/10) . Courses( type and number taken), grades, county within NC are aspects often seen as assisting in an accept. TO is not a determining factor unless your other sections are weak. Iād add essays highlighting community impact is never a bad thing with UNC.
Sorry, didnāt think to add that. 3.86 unweighted, and 4.7 weighted. Taken a strong AP course load including four APs during senior year. Gotten all 5ās and one 4 on those AP exams. Very involved in the community and strong recs. Totally understand that itās extremely competitive and not at all suggesting he was a shoe-in. Was more curious about whether others are seeing similar rejections for in-state this year. Mainly curious if this was a particularly hard year. I donāt hold out a lot of hope for waitlist. But I was wondering if anyone had insight into how that works if itās truly not ranked as they say. There has to be some means for differentiating.
The only reason I can think of is, he is from a school district that has very high achieving kids and they are not able give admission to every one. Still it is quite surprising and hopefully he will get admitted from the waitlist
Student had 4.0/4.7 but rural. Have to believe county makes a difference. Where in the state are you? Any triangle/ Wake county/ Asheville private schools etc make a difference. Iām not knocking it since Iāve got kids now at Duke and UNC which were able to show significant community impact in our region but the trend everywhere is an emphasis on socioeconomic related activities/ essays. The top schools are now collaborating with networks specifically seeking out rural students (STARS) thus its a good time to be living in the country.
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They will look at what they need to finish shaping the classā¦so a student from a certain geography/county, gender, major, Fgli, certain activities like marching band or whatever, etc.
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They look for geographic diversity within the state, and coming from a rural area is viewed favorably. This was also true when my daughter was there.
for what itās worth, one of my sonās friends got a full ride to Davidson and got waitlisted at UNC
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Is this an in state student? Thatās promising to many. Have a student awaiting Davidson results but already in at UNC. Thatād be a difficult decision if accepted. Both imo great schools albeit different campus/ size. I appreciate the honor code aspect of Davidson- being able to schedule exams as a student.
Donāt know, maybe essays might be a differentiator here. There was an article in the News&Observer saying that UNC uses AI to do a pre-scoring of essays before humans read it. Do you think your student had strong essays?
The score on the essay is less of a big deal than what it says. My kid reviewed her admissions file last week. The only comments in the notes were two things noted in her letter of recommendation and two comments related to the CONTENT in her essays. The people in the file review said UNC uses essays and LOR to differentiate students and that what was said in her LOR showed her ability to go above and beyond in areas she is passionate about and her essays showed that too. Her score from AI was fine, but not at the top of the range.
I think sometimes things are said in LOR that people are totally unaware of or that the LOR are bland because students havenāt made meaningful connections with adults at school. My kid chose to have two humanities (AP) teachers write for her, and one was an elective AP, versus asking a STEM teacher who didnāt know her well. They both knew her well and were able to convey a lot about her as a person, her work ethic, etc. that grades and tests scores (both high for her, too), cannot.
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Anyone know if waitlisted people can send letters of continued interest and when we should send them?
Is there anything in the portal? For Purdue, there is a space in the portal where you can enter a 500-word letter of continued interest.
I have heard legacy doesnāt matter for in-state applications.
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No idea - students should always check their portal for information.
Just got off the waitlist? Didnāt know this was possible
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Did they send you an email? Son is waitlisted there.
My D25 also just got accepted off the waitlist! I thought it was for sure not going to happen!!! Maybe EA waitlist acts more like a deferral???
Oh boy, that might change thingsā¦ Iām very excited for her, but also, not excited for the monkey wrench this might put in her plans.
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